Concluding Statement of the Judges of the International People’s Tribunal on the 1965 Crimes
Against Humanity in Indonesia At The Close of Evidence on 13 November 2015

The judges of this
Tribunal were appointed by the Foundation of the International People’s
Tribunal on the 1965 Crimes Against Humanity in Indonesia to evaluate the
upheaval and violence that plagued Indonesia during and after September-October
1965, to determine whether these events amounted to crimes against humanity, to
express a conclusion on whether the state of Indonesia and/or any other state
should assume responsibility for these crimes and to recommend what may be done
in the interests of lasting and just peace and social progress in Indonesia.

The judges regret
that neither the government of Indonesia, nor any other state to whom notice
was given have made any submissions before this tribunal despite having been
invited.

This Statement is
made on the 13th day of November 2015, at the end of the hearing of oral
testimony of the victims, and of expert witnesses, over four days, having taken
into account the broad historical background, much research material, writing
and opinion and, in particular:

a. the 23 July 2012
Statement by Komnas HAM (National Commission for Human Rights) on the Results
of its Investigations into Grave Violations of Human Rights During the Events
of 1965-1966;

b. the 2007 report
Gender-Based Crimes
Against Humanity : Listening to the Voices of Women Survivors of 1965 by Komnas
Perempuan (Indonesian Commission for Violence against Women); and

c. the Concluding
Observations of the UN Human Rights Committee in 2013 raising concerns about
human rights violations in Indonesia in 1965 and after, the reiteration of
those concerns in 2015, as well as the concerns expressed in 2012 by the UN
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.

The broad
historical background includes material concerning the government in Indonesia
before the events of 1965, accounts of these events and their impact, the years
of the Suharto dictatorship until about the turn of the century, the new
reformist constitutional era ushered in after the round rejection of the
Suharto regime as well as events after that.

The judges have had
particular regard to the fact that there is no credible material disputing the
occurrence of these grave violations of human rights, the passage in Indonesia
of truth and reconciliation legislation in an effort to come to terms with the
fact that these events had indeed occurred, the absence of any denial by any
government of Indonesia that these events had occurred and the promise made by
the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, to ensure that these violations will
be redressed. All the material demonstrates beyond any doubt that the serious violation
of human rights brought to the judges’ attention did occur.

The judges consider
that allegations by the prosecution of cruel and unspeakable murders and mass
murders of over tens of thousands of people, of unjustifiable imprisonment of
hundreds of thousands of people without trial and for unduly long periods in
crowded conditions, and the subjection of many of the people in prison to
inhumane and ruthless torture and to forced labour that might well have
amounted to enslavement, are well founded. It has also been demonstrated that
sexual violence, particularly against women, was systematic and routine,
especially during the period 1965-1967, that many political opponents were
persecuted and exiled, and that many thousands of people who, according to
propagandist and hate discourse, were thought not to support the Suharto
dictatorship with sufficient fervour, disappeared. All of this was justified
and encouraged by propaganda aimed at establishing the false proposition that
those opposed to the military regime were by definition grossly immoral and
unspeakably depraved.

It has been
established that the State of Indonesia during the relevant period through its
military and police arms committed and encouraged the commission of these grave
human rights violations on a systematic and widespread basis. The judges are
also convinced that all this was done for political purposes: to annihilate the
PKI and those alleged to be its members or sympathizers, as well as a much
broader number of people including Sukarno loyalists, trade unionists and
teachers. The design was also to prop up a dictatorial violent regime which the
people of Indonesia have rightly consigned to history. It cannot be doubted
that these acts, evaluated separately and cumulatively, constitute crimes
against humanity, both in International Law and judged by the values and the
legal framework of the new reformist era accepted by the people of Indonesia
seventeen years ago. This Tribunal has heard the detailed and moving evidence
of victims and families as well as the evidence of established experts. It saw
this evidence as no more than the mere tip of the iceberg, a few tangible,
graphic and painful examples of the devastation of the human beings who
appeared before them, as well as the wholesale destruction of the human fabric
of a considerable sector of Indonesian society.

The prosecution
made the case that other states have aided Suharto’s ruthless regime to achieve
these results in the pursuit of the establishment of a particular international
order in the context of the Cold War. We will consider this in our final
judgment.

The material
presented to the judges may amount to proof that other grave crimes have been
committed. This issue is also left open for the final judgment.

The judges are
sufficiently satisfied of their conclusions to make them public now with
confidence. However we need more time to set out in detail the basis upon which
we have come to these conclusions. We shall file a final judgment justifying,
with reasons, every conclusion and opinion in this statement within the coming
months.

The judges consider
the state of Indonesia responsible in the commission of such crimes against
humanity as the chain of command was organised from top to bottom of the
institutional bodies.

Despite the
important and positive changes that took place in Indonesia in 1998,
emphasising the importance of human rights in governance, this has not led to a
situation in which the successive governments have genuinely addressed past
grave and systematic human rights violations.

In addition to the
above conclusions the Tribunal is convinced on the evidence presented that
material propaganda advanced in 1965 that motivated the de-humanisation and
thus the killing of thousands of people included many lies. In particular, the
repeated assertion that the generals were castrated has long been disproved by
autopsy reports and these reports have been known to successive governments of
Indonesia. It is the duty of the president and government of Indonesia forthwith
to acknowledge this falsity, to apologise unreservedly for the harm that these
lies have done, and to institute investigations and prosecutions of those
perpetrators who are still alive. The Tribunal would have thought that the
President would, of course, do all this and be eager to keep his electoral
promise. Furthermore, the archives should be opened and the real truth on these
crimes against humanity should be established.

In this regard, the
Members of this Tribunal note that Komnas HAM commenced investigations in 2008
and that the government of Indonesia has received the commission’s report and
recommendations. The government has not implemented these recommendations and
in our view should do so as a matter of urgency. These recommendations include
appropriate reparation for victims.

We commend the
Foundation and the many people who have invested time and energy as well as
financial and other resources on this Tribunal. Without all that involvement
and determination, such a tribunal would not have been possible. We trust that
their efforts will be justified by an appropriate national and international
response.

Mireille Fanon-Mendes France

Cees Flinterman

John Gittings

Helen Jarvis

Geoffrey Nice

Shadi Sadr

Zak Yacoob

The Indonesia People's Tribunal was held in the Nieuwe Kerk at the Hague, 10 - 13 November 2015.